A court in Pakistan on Thursday overturned the death sentence of the key accused in the 2002 killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl.
British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002, has been in jail for 18 years.
According to his lawyers, the sentence has been reduced to a seven-year jail term.
"Omar has already served 18 years, so his release orders will be issued sometime today. He will be out in a few days," Khawaja Naveed, the defence lawyer told Reuters. "The murder charges were not proven, so he has given seven years for the kidnapping."
The Sindh High Court also acquitted three co-accused, who were serving life sentences.
Pearl, a reporter from Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped in January 2002 while investigating terror links connected to the September 11 attacks in Karachi. The video of his killing was released a few weeks later.
Man charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after knife attack on UK train
Tanzania's Hassan sworn into office after deadly election violence
Powerful 6.3 quake kills at least 20 in Afghanistan, hundreds injured
Turkey set to call for action on Gaza as soon as possible, source says
Hamas hands over three more hostage bodies
